Cadillac boys basketball team falls to Detroit Country Day 73-42 in Class B semifinal at the Breslin Center (with video)

Cadillac coach Jeff McDonald, junior Jalen Brooks and senior Wyatt Lucas look on in the fourth quarter as Detroit Country Day built a 30-point lead in the Class B boys basketball semifinals at the Breslin Center on March 22, 2013. (Jared Purcell | MLive.com)

EAST LANSING -- Playing in its first-ever Class B state semifinal, Cadillac was able to hang with top-ranked Detroit Country Day for most of the first half, but the top-ranked Yellowjackets proved to be strong and prevailed 73-42 on Friday at the Breslin Center.

Country Day (24-3) jumped out to a 14-2 lead and led 22-10 at the end of the first quarter. Cadillac came back to trail 26-20 in the second quarter, but that was as close as the Vikings would get the rest of the game.

Country Day ended the half on a 16-5 run, as Edmond Sumner scored the team's final 10 points of the quarter. Sumner then eliminated any chance of a Cadillac comeback in the second half as he hit three 3-pointers in the third quarter to seal the state final berth.

Nick Paquet led the Cadillac attack with 18 points and four steals, while Jalen Brooks added 15 points and a game-high seven rebounds.

“I'm very proud of our guys,” Cadillac coach Jeff McDonald said. “This is new territory for us. All year long we've basically been able to beat the teams we were supposed to beat, and tonight we ran into a team that's just better than us.

"The times where we didn't do things right, you got to give Country Day a lot of credit in terms of their pressure and athleticism."

McDonald was hopeful when the game was close in the second quarter and wasn't disappointed in his team.

“I like the way our kids played,'' he said. "We had the game where we wanted it to be when it was 26-20, and we were hanging around. But things just got away from us in the last three minutes of the first half.

"Country Day can score on streaks, and they're a tough team to defend. Our kids gave it the best they could.”

Sumner finished with a game-high 30 points. He was 9 of 15 from the field, including 5 of 8 from behind the 3-point line. Mory Diane added 11 points.

Country Day advances to the Class B finals to play Detroit Community at 6:30 p.m. Saturday. The Yellowjackets' last finals appearance was in 2010 when they beat Lansing Sexton 71-47.

A win on Saturday would give Country Day its ninth overall state title - and the school has a lot more playoff experience than Cadillac.

“When you've had the opportunity to play and coach in this atmosphere, you have a decided advantage against a team that's doing it for the first time,” Country Day coach Kurt Keener said. “Jeff is a very fine coach, and he runs a good program there (at Cadillac).

"They could've crumbled when we came out of the blocks and started very well, but they didn't quit.''

Keener was impressed with the spirit of the Cadillac program, too.

“I have nothing but respect for that program,'' he said. "I thought it was great that even late in the game their crowd supported them. That's what makes high school basketball great.”

Country Day's defense forced Cadillac into 20 turnovers, which resulted in 31 points.

Country Day also had a 31-18 advantage in rebounds, and had 17 second-chance points compared to Cadillac's four.

“They're just a solid team,” Paquet said. “Defensively, they just didn't make mistakes. They obviously like an up-tempo game. They like to gamble a lot on defense which makes it tough on us because we like to slow the game down and make it a half-court game.

"We let ourselves play a little faster then we wanted to.”

Along with Pacquet, Cadillac (21-5) graduates four other seniors who helped the Vikings to district and regional titles in each of the past three years, as well as a Big North title this season. Cadillac compiled a 63-12 record during that span.

After getting a sense of what playing in the Class B final four feels like, Pacquet is hopeful that road trips in late March to East Lansing will become a regular routine for Cadillac in the future.

“We had been stuck on the quarterfinal game for two years,” he said. “The first time we were just happy to be there. The second time we thought it was our time to go to the Breslin Center, but it wasn't quite yet.

"This year, we finally made it and that was our goal, so it's satisfying to know we don't have any regrets. We achieved our goal.

"It would've been nice to show up a little better here, but we're proud of what we did. Hopefully next year the guys can bring it back here.”